Happy New Year!

It was great being in the same place for a week!!! What a luxury!

The trial was at a fantastic facility (probably the best I have ever seen!) in Palmetto, FL (near Tampa). It was under cover on sandy soil and it was SO much easier than usual for me to move on that surface. The dogs loved it too.

There were great judges, great wheels and great courses all around with the exception of one judge but I can’t remember her name. In those 5 days of trials, we had 7 different judges!

The Girlz got a lot of compliments from people on their runs and that was very nice! The funniest thing that happened was a prominent trainer in the area told us that a lot of folks were saying that our Girlz couldn’t be all standard Poodle because they ran so fast. They even went so far as to say the reason we shave them all over was so that others wouldn’t know they were half BC and half Poodle! LOLOLOLOL! We took it as a HUGE compliment. They have seen great minis in the area but it has been a while since they had seen a fast standard.

My ONLY complaint, and it is a biggy actually, was their table. That damn thing cost me 6 Qs, including 2 double Qs! It cost Mel a QQ with Josephine and nearly another. We have never seen anything like it in all the trials we have attended. It was homemade and well built but the sides were solid painted plywood so it looked like a panel jump. Isabella tried to jump it the first time she saw it, then saw it was wider than she thought so she banked it. The next time she saw it, she stopped, walked all the way around it and sniffed each side. After sniffing, she got on and did her down. After that, however, she decided it was more fun to bank jump than anything else so that is what she did. Normally, the table is Isabella’s best obstacle! She kicks ass on the table but not this one!

Charisse was also unsure of the table. She refused to get on the first time she saw it until she could really get a good look at it. After that she was fine.

Josephine even refused the table! JOSEPHINE! Mel was not happy to lose a QQ over the table nor was I to lose my 2 QQs because of it.

MeMe was the only one who didn’t refuse the table but she jumps 20” so the table wasn’t nearly as imposing as it was for the 24” dogs.

I saw lots of other dogs balking at it too so our dogs weren’t the only ones. I heard more complaints about that dang piece of shit table all weekend and it was a shame to go all that way to get creamed by a crappy table. Ironically, the table is one of the few things I do well training!

Other than that, it was a good trial and the girlz did well. It was well run and we had hook ups!

There were other Bo-Tyne BCs there and we took a group photo with Crushie’s relatives. That is Crushie on the far left. The one next to Crush is out of the same dam and the one of the far right is by the same sire. The other one is related too but can’t remember how.

When the trial was over, we moved to the other side of the field so we would have sewer hook up. We were the only ones left and we stayed for two more days! There was a great field where the dogs could run and play so they were in heaven.

The neighborhood was a little scary though. The houses along the fence where we were parked were in need of a lot of fixing and each yard had at least one Pit-bull in the back. The house just on the other side of us had 4 Pits with ears docked to their heads and even their tails were docked. They never barked. It was so strange! None of the dogs along the fence barked at our Girlz. There were a dozen yards with dogs along the field and none barked at us. The Pits stood with their faces planted into the fence and whined just a little while they watched us throw the ball and play with the Girlz. They really wanted to come play too, or eat us all, I am not sure which. They were very cute though.

We watched the Rose Parade (My favorite!) and Mel got to watch foosball so he was happy and the Girlz got to run so they were happy and the Global Warmer was plugged in so it was happy!

We left the Pits this morning and headed back up the Florida coast to Pensacola for a trial. We finally ran out of steam and stopped for the night in Marianna. We will have a couple hour drive in the morning to get to the trial. I think we are going to stop at Suzanne’s friend Kim’s to train the Girlz. Crush hasn’t trained since we left California due to her feetsies getting the pads worn off because some moron by the initials of Helen K threw the ball on gravel for her and she ended up bleeding. That was back in El Paso, Texas but they seem OK now. Crush will be so happy to do her weavins!

The weather here has been CRAZY! It was miserably hot and humid all five days of the trial but that began to change on New Years day. The wind blew in and the temperature went from 80 + degrees and HUMID LIKE I COULDN’T BELIEVE down to 28 degrees!!!!! It was so freaking cold in Palmetto I couldn’t believe it! The weather said 19 in Pensacola! YIKES!!!! The trial was SO hot, I was sweating like mad. I guess what my brother’s best friend, Larry Macintosh, used to say when we were kids is true – FAT PEOPLE SWEAT! I was not the only one at the trial sweating though. The air was filled with deodorant and B O (not necessarily in that order.

So now we are in a campground with only 30 amp service and we keep blowing the breaker. We are trying to stay warm and I can’t believe it was warmer in Washington than it was here today!

All those Waffle House ads made us hungry for waffles so tonight I made some oatmeal waffles for dinner. They were sure good!

Well, hopefully the table at the Pensacola trial is normal.

Helen & The Girlz (Mel too)

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